Page 4. Women in the rural family, 1880–1970

Women in the home

As the family farm became more dominant, women’s role on
the farm grew more focused on the household. ‘Family and home
life take pride and pleasure,’1 one woman said in
the early 1970s.

But women were still doing tasks helpful to the farm. Most
women cooked and did the laundry for farm employees as well
as their families. They delivered scones down at the yards
for ‘smoko’. They often continued to look after the hens.
They also did a lot of preserving and baking, and gardened
around the house. Women’s skills were showcased at the
exhibits at local farming fairs like the A & P
(Agricultural and Pastoral) shows.

Farm work

Family farm employment did not entirely cease. As late as
the 1920s over 60% of farms relied solely on family members
for labour. Some women continued to help with the milking. In
the 1970s almost a quarter of farm women were working more
than 10 hours a week on the farm.

Women worked when their husbands were sick, during calving
and lambing, or when there were other seasonal pressures.
Dairying remained most dependent on family labour and in 1970
unpaid family labour contributed about a third of a Standard
Labour Unit to the average dairy farm, allowing more cows to
be milked.

Following the passage of the Married Women’s Property Act
in 1884 some women had gained property rights, and by the
1970s a fifth of wives had joint ownership of the farm with
their husbands.

Yet the domestic role remained the centre of farm women’s
lives. By comparison with married urban women, rural women
were much less likely to be in outside paid employment. In
1975 only 8% were working full-time whereas 28% of urban
women were doing so. As one woman commented, ‘Farm women are
far too busy to work!’2

Women’s interests outside the home

Farm women’s outside interests tended to revolve around
their domestic role. From the 1920s car transport and better
roads allowed rural women to meet one another in country
towns. Women’s organisations flourished, such as the Women’s
Division of Federated Farmers, the Country Women’s Institutes
and the Red Cross. In 1975 half of rural women were active in
voluntary community work, by comparison with only a third in
the city.

Family fun

As cars made their appearance and roading improved, the
whole family went into town for recreation. The local hall
was often the location for family fun such as dances or
Friday night movies – the ‘flicks’. Many families attended
church on Sundays and met their neighbours and relatives
afterwards for tea and a gossip.

Tea time

In the 1930s morning and afternoon teas continued to be
a major ritual of farm families: ‘[they] go into their
homes and tea appears as if by magic. But the morning and
afternoon tea habit is not by any means an adornment of the
day. It grew out of pioneering times when to offer
refreshment was to be a real friend.’3

Nuclear families

In most farming families the farm was handed on to one of
the sons when the parents reached their 50s or 60s. The
parents would then retire and move close to a town. The other
children might receive some financial help on marriage or
when starting a business. The effect of this was that country
areas were dominated by married couples and young children.
The retired and the unmarried, especially the girls, had gone
to town.

However many, especially the men, lived in one area for
much of their lives. They often spoke of others in relation
to their family of origin. And by comparison with city
people, rural families had greater contact with their
extended kin. They saw grandparents, grown-up children and
siblings regularly. But households were largely nuclear. It
was rare for them to include grandparents or unmarried
aunts.